Steamed beetles were officially Link's favourite food. Him being starved had probably a lot to do with, but he was also certain the cooking in the inn was simply superb and worthy of praise any day. Regardless, he had a full plate of beetle shells with juicy meat within, served with toasted sunflower seeds and a side of mixed flower petal salad dressed with bright yellow sunflower oil. He had a glass of floral wine that wasn't what he'd usually go for, but it was tasty nonetheless. He would bet Zelda would love it.

Sidon had a large bowl of thick shrimp paste on what looked like rice but was too small to actually be it. He, too, had a colourful salad with oil on top on a separate plate, and a glass of something pink-ish. Link had honestly not paid much attention to the waiter's explanation after he received his own food – he had only caught the part about shrimp and had been happy with that knowledge alone. They also had a pitcher of water that Sidon had immediately drank two thirds of before they were even close to receiving their food.

The two of them had sat in awkward silence the entire wait time, as Sidon had evidently been way too grouchy from hunger to feel like having conversations, even with Link. And now? Now they were too busy stuffing their faces to talk and Link honestly preferred it that way, because he needed his hands to shovel food into his mouth. It was only after they were about half done with their plates that Sidon decided to say things other than muffled praises for the food.

"Ahh, I feel alive again", Sidon said after a deep drink from his glass. He smiled at Link, who was beyond ecstatic to see that it was a genuinely happy look now – it was much better than the bleak smiles from the Lost Woods. "I think I'll have seconds as soon as I can catch a waiter. How about you?"

Link nodded. He hoped they could drop by the marketplace for supplies later, but he would also eat until he burst now, just in case this ended up being their only meal for a while again; he had finally learnt to not take food for granted in this tiny world.

"Alright. I was also hoping to have a talk about our… guest, who is waiting for us."

Link nodded again.

"Do you truly think she is a Vaatian? She could very well be a messenger from the local mayor or perhaps even Slateri. We have nothing to go on from but her earlier words, so I think it's too early to condemn her."

Link stuffed a big forkful of food into his mouth before setting down his cutlery to sign. 'If she was working for the mayor of a city this big, she would look more professional, start with introductions, and probably hand us a missive rather than talk to us. She could be an unofficial messenger from Slateri, I'll give you that.'

Sidon frowned, and then hailed a passing waiter over to order their second servings. Link figured the action was partially meant to buy Sidon time to think, which he didn't mind in the least. He continued eating while awaiting Sidon's answer.

"You're right", Sidon said after the waiter was out of the hearing distance. "I was thinking like a Zora. We don't have official messengers, like you ought to know from back before we met."

True, Link would never forget the half a dozen or so random Zora Sidon had posted all over Lanayru Wetlands to look for promising Hylians to help them with their plight.

"I know all the other races do, so it makes sense the Minish would too – or at least it's more likely than not. However, we don't know for sure-" Sidon interrupted himself with a sudden hand slammed on the table and widened eyes. Link admittedly jumped a little and the jolt caused the food on his fork to drop back on his plate. "Wait, no, we do! Messengeri! Way back in Stable Town!"

Link's brain took a few seconds to connect the dots, but then he recalled the Minish that had been sent out by the mayor of the town to look for Slateri the Second, even if they happened to miss each other in the end. He nodded frantically at Sidon.

"That rules out the possibility of that Minish being sent by any local higher ups at least", Sidon said with a grin. "So she's either a Vaatian or sent by Slateri. That is, those are the only options we need to actually care about right now."

'Because no more side quests.'

"Precisely!"

'What are the odds Slateri would send for us?'

Both of them fell silent to ponder that possibility. Would Slateri know they wanted to meet him? Probably, because everyone seemed to be aware of their existence and at the very least Slateri himself should be interested in a meet up in order to hear more about the big people and their Sheikah Slates – it was literally his job to care. But why wouldn't he wait for them personally? Potentially because of the Vaatians, if he had somehow heard of the hunt for the Minish Cap. Then again, to Link's knowledge the people Slateri had spoken to the most within the previous cities were the local officials, which meant he was an important, respected figure himself, which in turn meant that logically he would ask the mayor or someone to send an official messenger on his behalf, were he to send an urgent message.

That all meant that the Minish waiting for them outside of the restaurant was almost certainly a Vaatian, just like Link had suspected even before logicking it out. He tapped Sidon's arm to snap him out of his musings, and explained his epiphany.

"I see. Admittedly I was arriving to a similar conclusion myself, so I do believe it's in our best interest to proceed with the assumption that she is an enemy", Sidon said with a heavy hearted sigh. "Do we confront her ourselves or call the guards?"

...Calling the guards had never even crossed Link's mind. He had only considered sneaking away or walking into the trap on purpose. He was pretty sure there was a reason why he hadn't thought of it, but he couldn't quite grasp said reason right at that moment, so he supposed he'd have to wait and see.

'We do need to talk to the guards regardless', he replied, and their option A was settled.

ooooo

A second helping and a berry based dessert later the two of them were sitting at their table with a newly arrived guard that one of the waiters had fetched for them. Sidon spent a good while explaining what the Vaatians had been up to during their journey, the likely location of their hideout, and finally their suspicion of the person waiting for them outside of the building.

However, the guard refused to arrest the Vaatian or do anything else along the same vein, and the explanation for it turned out to be the elusive, subconscious reason why Link had dismissed 'calling the guards' as a viable option: arresting someone just because they suspected her of being a Vaatian was not going to happen as long they didn't have any kind of tangible evidence of their claim. Not only that, but apparently Vaatians weren't considered a criminal organization as a whole anyway – only a gang to keep an eye on – so even if she was one the guard's hands would be tied as long as she did nothing wrong. The only thing the guard could do was report their findings to her superiors, and then send them backup so they could feel safe within the city's borders at least. Sidon was dissatisfied with the results – probably because as the Zora Prince he was used to things like this going his way without a question – but Link was content from simply delivering their original message and thus getting to cross that off their figurative quest list.

And maybe, perhaps, possibly he had also felt that letting the guards handle the situation without any effort from him would have been a little too cushy for his liking.

"We should hear what the potential Vaatian has to say", Sidon said after the guard left. "If they lead us into a trap, we have help nearby now. If it's something actually important, we're better off hearing it than missing it."

Link agreed, and thus their new Plan A was officially decided. They proceeded to spend half an hour just relaxing at their table and nursing mugs of mead to give their backup time to show up, and then finally got up and walked outside to meet their shadow, whether the guards were around yet or not.

"Finally!" said the Minish, who Link just assumed was their hanger-on – he still couldn't tell these people apart. "I was beginning to worry you left and I just somehow missed it!"

To be fair, that had been one of their options.

"Our apologies for the wait", Sidon replied, back to his polite self. "We were really tired and needed the rest, and for that I thank you for your patience. We will now hear your message."

Link would bet the hearing of the message involved-

"Oh, it's sensitive information. We should go somewhere less crowded first."

Called it.

'Definitely an ambush.'

'I agree', Sidon answered. 'Distract her, I'll check if we have backup.'

Link wouldn't be able to tell if the previous guard was within the crowd even if she stood right in front of him, so that was fair.

Link snapped his fingers a couple of times to get the definitely-a-Vaatian to look at him. Then he signed a load of nonsense with needlessly elaborate gestures, making sure her eyes were glued to his hands despite her lack of understanding.

"Um, I still don't understand you…"

"Ah, Link just said we understand the need for discretion and will go with you", Sidon lied smoothly, which Link assumed meant their help had arrived. "Lead us on, please."

The fact that the Vaatian honestly did so convinced Link that either she wasn't very bright, or she assumed the same from them. Though to her credit, she did weave them through a crowd at a pretty fast pace before ducking into an alley that had a similar shimmering quality to it as the Festari Abbey, so at least she was trying hard to ditch the guards that were presumably tailing them. Link doubted the success of the attempt, though, as Sidon's head towering high above the crowd at all times made it next to impossible to lose sight of him.

The alley was empty. Way too empty to be natural, considering the crowds right on the other side of the shimmering alleyway.

Link raised an eyebrow expectantly, and palmed the handle of his sword.

"Now can you tell us your message?" Sidon asked with a smile, but Link could see that he wasn't just scratching the back of his neck like he pretended to be, but was keeping his hand near his spear, ready to draw it instantly.

"Sure!" the Vaatian said cheerfully, and tugged on a tag that had definitely not been around her neck before. Predictably, as Link had seen this before in the Hero Museum, her appearance changed in an instant: from a regular looking Mist Minish to a purple-clad, pale faced, white haired Vaatian. "Vaati wants you captured and hauled to the Shrine in order to lure Slateri out. We only need one of you, so if you resist we're allowed to dispose of whichever one of you is more bothersome."

Link smirked and drew his weapon simultaneously with Sidon. They had seen this coming and were at least somewhat rested and well fed, so one Vaatian shouldn't be an issue.

...Wait, we?

As if on cue, nine more Vaatians poofed into existence from purple smoke all around the alley.

...Link really hoped their backup had not, in fact, been successfully ditched now.